With all eyes on Hurricane Gustav this Labor Day, I want to shift focus to Tropical Storm Hanna.  This storm could directly impact our area beginning Friday.  Here is a graphical representation of what the tropics look like this morning, including all areas favorable for more tropical cyclone development.

Gustav made landfall today as a category three hurricane.  Time will tell what the damage is like for residents of the Gulf Coast.  Hanna could become a category one storm later this week, but right now indications are that she will more than likely stay a tropical storm when she makes landfall.  Georgia and South Carolina could be the targets for Gustav's cousin.  Here is an infrared satellite image of both storms. 

It's always fascinating to me to look at an image from space like this and realize the true power of Mother Nature and the raw fury of these two storms.  What exactly will Hanna do?  The details are always a little suspect this far in advance, but the following images are one model's predictions for the end of the week.

This image shows the United States Thursday afternoon.  The remnants of Gustav will still be affecting parts of the country like Missouri and Arkansas.  Notice Hanna in the lower right corner.  She begins to make her turn toward the Southeast Coast. 

24 hours later, this image shows Hanna's location Friday afternoon.  She will have made landfall by this time across portions of Georgia and South Carolina.  By Friday evening, we could be seeing the start of rainfall from the storm's outer fringes.  At this point, we are hoping that this rainfall will cause little in the way of flooding and be beneficial to the region.  Let's hope this turns out the be the case.  As the next image displays, however, the Midstate looks to be a bullseye for Hanna's remnants Saturday.

This model paints some very heavy rainfall over Pennsylvania for Saturday morning and afternoon.  Hanna tracks right over our area before departing rather quickly Saturday evening.  If this model holds, then no doubt we are in for a lot of rainfall.  As I mentioned earlier though, hopefully it will only be a benefit and not so much that we can't handle it.  Time will tell as we get closer to the event by the end of this week.

Send me your questions and comments by posting below or send me an email at brettsblog@abc27.com.  Have a great Labor Day!